Aston Villa 1-0 Everton: Villa strike early, then hold on

August 31, 2010

Starting line-ups

A bizarre game that Everton dominated from start to finish, and yet still managed to lose.

Stephen Ireland suffered an injury in the warm up, so Nigel Reo-Coker replaced him in the centre of midfield. James Collins returned at the back, and Gabriel Agbonlahor wasn’t fit enough to start, so John Carew continued upfront.

David Moyes elected to play a 4-2-3-1ish system that often became 4-1-4-1 when Mikel Arteta pushed forward. Jermaine Beckford was again upfront, and Jack Rodwell got his first start of the season in an unfamiliar right wing position.

Everton had started the brighter, and even the 9th minute goal from Luke Young was probably against the run of play. It was a superb move and a wonderful finish, however, with Young combining with his namesake Ashley, before running onto the ball having escaped Steven Pienaar’s poor marking, and curling the ball into the top corner.

That goal was untypical of the game as a whole, but it stemmed from the area of the pitch that saw the game’s key battle take place. Young and Mark Albrighton were up against Leighton Baines and Steven Pieenar, and it was a fascinating contest going in both directions.

Key battle

First, Baines was a prominent attacking threat throughout the game, constantly getting himself into wide positions in the final third of the pitch, and swinging a couple of dangerous balls into the box. The Pienaar-Baines combination worked well – Pieenar kept drifting into the centre of the pitch, and Luke Young marshalled him very closely, to the point where sometimes Young ended up marking Pieenar between his own centre-backs. This created space in Villa’s right-back zone for Baines to exploit, and Albrighton had a difficult time with his defensive responsibilities, switching off a couple of times. See below – Pienaar made diagonal runs into the centre, Baines bombed forward on the outside.

The final point about the battle on that side concerns the goal itself – it’s hard to imagine Villa would have scored that goal under Martin O’Neill last season, for he insisted on playing centre-back Carlos Cuellar in that position. Young started just nine games there, whereas Cuellar started 24 and generally offered nothing creatively when in possession.

Elsewhere

The game was less exciting on the other side of the pitch – Rodwell looked out of place on the right, and always wanted to play the ball back into the centre of the pitch, rather than stretching the play or getting to the byline. Elsewhere, another notable factor was Sylvain Distin and Phil Jagielka’s tendency to step up briefly into midfield to distribute the ball, leaving the other 1 v 1 against John Carew at the back.

Carew had a poor game, struggling to hold the ball up for the onrushing midfield players. He only completed one pass in the 68 minutes he spent on the pitch, and his inability to keep hold of the ball meant Everton could launch attacks again and again. At the other end, Jermaine Beckford was also disappointing – his all-round game is not as bad as some critics have made out, but he is still short of the ability required for a top-half Premiership striker.

Everton’s sheer dominance meant the game was hinging around whether they could turn their possession into goals. Villa’s clean sheet was more about last-ditch blocks and tackles and some great saves from Brad Friedel than an organised positional masterclass, but then they fact that defended very narrow meant they were more likely to be in positions to get blocks in.

Moyes’ substitutions were slightly surprising – Louis Saha on for Beckford made sense, but when Rodwell got injured, Moyes used Seamus Coleman in the right-wing position, and later withdrew Tony Hibbert for Johnny Heintinga. Coleman had a good impact – getting to the byline once and delivering a decent near post ball in, but with the Everton full-backs camped in the final third, it would have been nice to see Coleman deployed at right-back, with a more attacking player ahead of him.

Bringing on Heitinga was presumably in order to push Fellaini forward into a striking role, but Moyes surely could have done that anyway, leaving Distin and Jagielka at the back, and Arteta slightly deeper, with time on the ball to create. Certainly, it’s easy to be wise after the event, but introducing a right-back and a centre-back when 1-0 down and dominating possession was a strange decision, especially when Diniyar Bilyaletdinov and Leon Osman were unused substitutes.

Villa occasionally threatened on the break – Everton’s high line was fine against Carew but less wise when Agbonlahor came on – but it was basically about last-ditch tackles, great saves, and a little bit of luck. It’s hard to attribute the victory to tactics, but it was a superb game.

Conclusion

Some interesting points tactically – the use of a proper right-back, the use of one inverted winger with a full-back overlapping, and a couple of glimpses of centre-backs stepping out from defence. None of this explains the scoreline, which even Villa fans must be slightly amazed at, but adds some interesting side notes to an entertaining contest.

The injury to Ireland may have served Villa quite well considering most of (his replacement) Nigel Reo-Coker’s work was in his own third of the pitch, but the use of John Carew as a lone striker didn’t work particularly well. Whoever becomes the permanent Villa boss still has a job trying to fit their midfielders and attackers into a cohesive shape.

This defeat will be the most frustrating of Everton’s season – but then look at the first XI, and it’s not packed with goals. Beckford has no Premiership experience, Rodwell is not a winger, and Pieenar averages three goals a season. Only Cahill bucks the trend, but he had a quiet game after being excellent at Wolves last week. A fit Louis Saha will make a big difference.

Having watched all of Everton’s football this season, the problem for me stems from Beckford being unprepared for this level. The team tend to dominate posession and pass the ball neatly, but Beckford seems out of his depth playing up front on his own in the Premier League and provides little incisive movement or good hold up play. Many Toffees fans would prefer to see Saha starting more games.

I also don’t understand starting Rodwell on the right wing. It seems a classic case of trying to fit your best players into the team at the expense of a cohesive shape. I would also like to see Coleman start more games. The team’s play becomes much more balanced when he is in the side; as you noted, Everton’s left wing axis of Baines and Pienaar becomes the main, if not only, creative outlet when Neville or Hibbert play at right back.

Selen Vinland on August 31, 2010 at 1:14 am

Beckford really does look out of his depth. I guess that’s understandable given that he was playing in League 2 last season. What I don’t get is why Everton signed him in the first place. He’s certainly not as good as Saha or Yakubu (although both are injury-prone), and I’m not sure he’s any better than Anichebe or Vaughan.

Road on August 31, 2010 at 3:17 am

Erm, League 1 actually.

Marco on August 31, 2010 at 1:37 am

why don’t you publish an article about Napoli? They play a very interesting 3-4-3 / 3-4-2-1 that makes bigger team struggle against them!

Moyes will figure it out, but you never know if a player fits your system ahead of time, regardless of transfer fee.

Nick on August 31, 2010 at 11:37 am

Carew as a lone striker worked fine against West Ham, when he had midfielders supporting from all angles and Villa played most of the game in the attacking half. Against Everton, a combination of isolation and one of his frequent off-days did not reflect well on him. It will be interesting to see if Agbonlahor can play that role when fit; at home as well as away.

Villa’s midfield is certainly a conundrum. Ireland/Petrov looks too attacking and lightweight, whereas Reo-Coker/Petrov lacks the ability to maintain possession. Milner gave them that balance between the two. Playing Ireland, Petrov and Reo-Coker all together would presumably necessitate re-deploying Ashley Young, just when he’s starting to look more dangerous in that free central role than he did when he was stuck out on the wing, where he was easier for defenders to pin down.

Riccardo on August 31, 2010 at 1:09 pm

I saw marco above asking about napoli… In a (slightly) related topic, how ac milan will set up with ibra and robinho now on board, and will they be able to challenge inter ?

mlyons on August 31, 2010 at 1:53 pm

“This defeat will be the most frustrating of Everton’s season” — except that it’s a near carbon-copy of the opening Blackburn match. This whole season is going to be frustrating for Everton unless somebody other than Tim Cahill figures out how to finish and unless they can get some width from anywhere other than Pienaar and Baines. I love the talent Moyes has amassed without any money to spend, but just about every one of their dozen or so really good midfielders wants to play centrally, and they don’t have any strikers comfortable on their own up top.

Yes. At some point – there’s no football for three days, so it’s gonna be spread a bit…

grimtoffee on August 31, 2010 at 6:41 pm

Arteta played too deep… without any players wide on the right, they need someone other than Baines/Pienaar down the left to create.

Also, Cahill is clearly the best striker at the club (with the possible exception of a fit, in-form Louis Saha). Considering the number of players that can play centrally in their midfield, pushing Cahill up top makes complete sense.

And couldn’t agree more about Coleman playing offering another creative outlet down the right. Just goes to show Moyes’ conservative nature picking Hibbert ahead of him though…

mlyons on September 1, 2010 at 12:46 am

Cahill’s not a striker, though, and has never been one at club level. He scores his goals by making late runs into the box, slipping between the midfield and defense lines. That’s not something he can do if he’s playing as a lone frontman. Taking him out of his natural role in the hole would take away half of what makes him good.

grimtoffee on September 1, 2010 at 9:37 am

He played centre forward for Everton for quite a few games last season and did so effectively (well, I say centre forward, but he often got in behind the ball and is an excellent at putting pressure on defenders so you could say we were playing 4-6-0.)

I think that’s a bit of a fallacy that he ‘arrives late’ in the box… Everton’s build-up play is often quite slow and patient, so players don’t tend to arrive late! He’s certainly good in the air, and scores a lot of headed goals, but they tend to be from set pieces.

More often that not (I believe) his goals from open play tend to be when the ball is ricocheting around the box and he will turn it in.

I just think that without an in-form striker, pushing Cahill further forward, would allow the side to accomodate another creative player centrally in the midfield (Bilyaletdinov, Osman etc)

mlyons on September 1, 2010 at 3:13 pm

I’m assuming you mean two seasons ago, when all of Everton’s senior strikers were injured at the same time for around a month. Even then, he wasn’t playing as the lone frontman — Fellaini played further forward. People described it as a 4-6-0 or Cahill as the striker, but really it was just their normal formation with Fellaini playing out of position as a targetman striker and Cahill playing just off him in his normal position.

grimtoffee on September 1, 2010 at 6:43 pm

Apologies – I meant two seasons ago.

From my recollection they were fairly interchangeable in who played further forward… but Fellaini probably ended up there cos he didn’t do as much running as Cahill!

I maintain though, that Cahill’s passing and technique is too poor for him to play in central midfield considering the other options available.

But behind Saha, he’s the best available forward. Good in the air, intelligent runs, good pressing/stamina and a decent finish.

Mark on August 31, 2010 at 11:24 pm

Was an interesting game I thought, completely dominated by Everton, yet they got nothing out of the game.

One interesting thing about Villa, McDonald seems to be using Young in a position just off John Carew, a good position for him in my opinion. Personally I think he’s a very overated player, he’s not as good on the left hand side as the very underated Stewart Downing, and time after time Young will cut in from the left and send in a poor cross. Crossing and delivery is a massive part of a wingers game, and this isn’t Young’s strongest attribute, playing just off of Carew will suit Youngs game more. Carew can hold the ball up for Young, who can either look to play off of him, or get in behind as he has the pace to do so. The role is played perfectly by Mesut Ozil.

ltjbr on September 1, 2010 at 1:30 am

Everton just lacks the teeth upfront. Their goal scoring hopes depend too much on Saha staying fit. Moyes really should have addressed the striker problem by adding more than just beckford.

chels on September 2, 2010 at 1:57 am

does anyone know more about Magaye Gueye than the basic wikipedia stuff? Where might he fit into the line-up? An alternative to Saha or playing with Saha?

A five year contract (i think i recall reading) seems non-Moyes like for an unknown Portugese forward. At least he seems to have more history than Bebe.

evilcherry on September 2, 2010 at 6:31 am

I’d say an alternative to Beckford.

grimtoffee on September 2, 2010 at 6:23 pm

He’s been used left-wing predominantly pre-season. About six-foot, a good left foot with a decent cross is about all I can tell you.

Plus he’s not Portugese, that’s Joao Silva (who I know even less about)!

chels on September 6, 2010 at 2:35 am

you are correct grimtoffee, so an apology to Magaye Gueye. I understand he is french – his parents are Senegalese. Hope he is not modeling himself on Saha and does not get attacked by any of Louis’s blood-sucking leaches

Prem on September 1, 2010 at 4:23 am

Last season’s successful team had Bilayletdinov , Pienaar and Donovan as 3 ams and it worked wonderfully well because it allowed team to play at high tempo and in defined roles.
Now Donovan has gone, Bilayletdinov out and Arteta, Cahill have come into team. It has disrupted team movement. Arteta drifts into midfield leaving right wing and central mfs are too much defensive minded.

mlyons on September 1, 2010 at 3:10 pm

Arteta doesn’t “drift” into midfield; it’s his position. He’s not a winger any more, but has been playing as a regista since returning from his knee injury. I don’t think he’s lined up on the wing once since then.